The Hungarian government has made another offer to buy Budapest airport

The owners of Budapest Airport are thinking of starting formal negotiations with the Hungarian government. The owners of the airport have received a new offer from the Hungarian government, according to the latest information.

According to a Bloomberg report, a government-led consortium made a new offer to buy a majority stake in the airport. The exact bid rate is not known; however, you can assume that

the offer received at the end of September is higher than before but still does not reach market value.

The previous offer arrived in July and was immediately rejected by the owners of Budapest Airport as it was considered too low. The airport is operated by German-based airport management company AviAlliance. Neither they nor the Hungarian Ministry of Innovation and Technology, which is negotiating  on behalf of the Hungarian government, commented on the events.

Based on information received from those familiar with the case, Bloomberg believes airport owners could set the terms for starting formal negotiations next week.

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The Hungarian government wants to complete the purchase of the airport by the end of the year.

The finalisation of the deal is supposedly so urgent due to next year’s parliamentary elections, writes portfolio.hu. The owners of Budapest Airport have previously ruled out the possibility of selling the airport. However, they fear that the Hungarian government will make it impossible for the airport to operate through state retaliation. The foreign paper mentions that the Hungarian government recently delayed a request submitted in the summer to reopen one of the hub’s terminals.

The owners of Budapest Airport would like to know the identities of the other members of the consortium. An important aspect is that the customer group has the financial potential and technical expertise to purchase and operate the airport. The airport reported a loss of €110 million last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, they hope that by 2023, operations and revenue will return to pre-COVID-19 levels.

Source: Bloomberg, portfolio.hu